Time to close the book on another strange, but amazing year! We all had high hopes for 2021 and probably got a bit more than we bargained for with this past year. It was a rough one for the Style Maker Family—from supply chain issues and rising costs to guarding against COVID and a family emergency…let’s just say we weren’t too sad for this year to end. That said, there were lots of bright spots throughout the year that we will always remember. Here is a look at some of our favorite highlights from 2021!
Big Changes
We started off the year with a bang! In January we welcomed a new four-legged member to the Style Maker Family. Then, in February, we unveiled an exciting new look to our online shop! If that wasn’t enough, later in the year we launched one of our biggest projects yet, our Maker Resources section on the website, chock full of helpful articles you can refer to anytime! Throw in sourcing all of the amazing new fabrics, patterns, and notions, and we’ve had a pretty busy year!
Social Fun
We’ve been having a blast over on Instagram sharing our latest new arrivals, experimenting with Reels (short videos), and checking out all of your incredible makes! Here is a look at our Top Nine posts from the past year (hi, Reagan!). P.S. Be sure you are following along with us, @stylemakerfabrics!
- Reagan joined the Style Maker Family!
- Pre-made Double Gauze Bias Tape…Genius!
- Gorgeous ultra-wide sateen fabrics from Ruby Star Society.
- Abby’s stunning Marlo Sweater, using one of our sweater knits and matching buttons.
- Fall Swatch Bundles from our Virtual Kick-Off Event.
- Cozy Plush Double Knit—perfect for cool-weather tops and cardigans.
- Reversible Sherpa Fleece—the ultimate cozy fabric!
- Reversible Boucle Fleece—sherpa fleece’s elevated sibling!
- Vintage-inspired rayon crepe prints.
Inspiration Overload
The spring and fall seasons brought loads of amazing new fabrics and lots of sewing inspiration! To celebrate the launch of the new seasons, two groups of amazing sewists each sewed up a new look for the season featuring fabrics from the seasonal collections. It’s really fun to see all of the Style Tour looks together—almost like a whole fashion collection from our favorite design group…the sewing community!
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13
Did you miss one of the stops on the Spring or Fall Style Tour? Or want to revisit one of your favorites? We’ve included links to each stop—photos go in order left to right and top to bottom.
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10
Let’s Get Sewing
2021 was an exciting year for indie patterns! Lots of patterns got updates to include even more sizes and variations, and one of our favorite PDF designers made the jump to paper patterns (welcome, Chalk & Notch!).
It is always interesting to do a bit of number crunching and see what indie patterns are your favorites at the end of the year. Surprisingly, three patterns remained at the top from last year’s list. We are also excited to see the addition of two woven t-shirt patterns, instant wardrobe staples! Have you sewed up any of our Top Five?
Wardrobe Staples
Returning Favorites
Escape to the Hideaway
During the second half of the year we finally got to gather in person at our retreat center, Makers Hideaway! In August, Lauren, the jeans-making maven, joined us for two weekends of teaching and twenty enthusiastic sewists went home with well-fitted, handmade jeans! Then in October, Karen (@intostitches) joined us to teach another group of students all her tricks for creating a professionally-finished Maker Jacket.
As we start planning retreats for 2022, we are looking forward to having Lauren join us again for two more weekends of jeans-making fun! We have lots of other retreat ideas and can’t wait to get them on the calendar. Watch for announcements about all of our upcoming retreats in our email newsletter and on our Retreats page HERE.
We are also excited to announce that Style Maker Fabrics/Makers Hideaway is the new home for Palmer/Pletsch workshops in the Seattle-area! There are three different workshop retreats on the calendar for this year and we look forward to partnering with such an amazing resource for the sewing community! Learn more about Palmer/Pletsch and get all of the details for the upcoming retreats HERE.
While 2021 didn’t quite turn out the way we all hoped, it was a year full of changes that will hopefully set us up for an even better 2022. We are already dreaming about some exciting new projects we can’t wait to get working on! Behind the scenes we are also working on expanding our team, improving our site, and finding new ways to better serve all of our amazing customers. As always, if you have any suggestions or thing you hope to see from us this year, email us at info@stylemakerfabrics.com or contact us HERE. We’d love to hear from you!
A huge thank you goes out to all of you! Your love and support of our small business motivate us to continue evolving and improving. Your creativity and passion for sewing are infectious (in the best way!), and we can’t wait to see what comes next! Cheers to 2022 and a new year of sewing!
Sincerely,
Michelle & Sharon